ConsumeLess Tourism Model and Guidelines
A ready-to-use toolkit useful for Local Committee set up, to join public and private actors aiming at reducing the consumption of water, energy and waste generation in the tourism sector. The environmental added value, results of the demonstrative measures adopted by the public authorities and the ConsumelessMed label assigned to the tourism facilities, is valorised at economic level by using innovative communication and a marketing strategy at local and international level. A key factor is the involvement of the local communities and travelers, as ambassadors of the ConsumelessMed destination towards environmentally sound lifestyles whilst on holiday.
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One of the pilot areas was the Ragusa department in Sicily, where the Local Committee is composed of the 12 municipalities, the provincial authorities, trade association, network of economic operators etc. About 100 facilities adopted the label and the demonstrative measures addressing water scarcity, with a very innovative grey water natural treatment system (nature-based solution) applied in a beach resort saving about 300/400 lt of drinking water per day, normally used for secondary use (i.e., WC, irrigation, cleaning etc.) (more info here). Great attention was dedicated to the promotion of the destination as a ConsumeLess destination, producing a video awarded as best monthly video by the Lonely Planet (watch the video here).
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Replicability conditions
The first step for the adoption of the model is to set up the Local Committee (LC) to manage the ConsumeLess model and related label ConsumelessMed, at the local level, involving human resources from each member of the Committee to assess the local action plan, involving staff to identify the local tourist facilities awarded with the ConsumelessMed label, coaching them to increase their environmental sustainability and to raise awareness of their customers. LC members identify the budget (internally/external funds) to launch the awareness campaign and print the tailored ConsumeLess products, such as gadgets, posters, and brochures. The LC identifies the demonstrative measures, existing initiatives or new ones (depending on available budget) aimed at reducing water and energy consumption or waste production, that can have a high visibility for tourists and can be promoted during the ConsumeLess awareness campaign and marketing strategy. New ConsumeLess destinations and ConsumelessMed facilities are promoted by the Consumelessmed.org platform.